Systems and Methods for Conducting Dynamic Media Lift Studies Concurrently with Operating Online Advertising Campaigns

ABSTRACT

Systems and methods are disclosed for conducting media lift studies for online advertising concurrently with operating an advertising campaign. While operating an advertising campaign for a first advertiser/client focused primarily on a set of intended ads and a specific targeted viewer audience, a non-intended ad is occasionally substituted to run in an ad slot, and is tracked as belonging to the first advertiser/client. The non-intended ad can be for example one of: an ad for a second advertiser/client; an alternate ad for the first advertiser/client; or a blank/unrelated ad. After the campaign, attribution results for the intended ads are adjusted according to those for non-intended ads to provide an indication of net media lift resulting from the intended ads—typically at no additional cost to the first advertiser/client. Analysis results may also be compared between different attribution data providers to determine which provide the more accurate attribution data.

CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS

This application claims the benefit of U.S. Provisional PatentApplication No. 62/216,907 filed Sep. 10, 2015.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

1. Field of the Invention

The present invention relates to online advertisements, and methods fordetermining the effectiveness of online advertisements.

2. Prior Art

Overview of RTB (Real-Time Bidding):

In the RTB environment for electronic media impression auctions, anelectronic advertising agency/consolidator operating a demand-sideplatform receives billions of daily auction opportunities for electronicmedia impressions from supply-side partners like for example Google®,Yahoo®, etc. These partners operate auctions for ad impressions and thenplace electronic ads based on auction results. A supply-side partner'sauction is considered an external auction with respect to a demand-sideplatform where an internal auction may also be operated to determinewhich advertisements (ads) and bids are submitted to the externalauction. Each ad impression (ad slot) opportunity includes informationparameters about the ad impression—for example and without limitation,the target media property (website), geolocation of the viewer, ad size,viewer cookie, etc, that are used for targeting purposes. The demandside platform then processes hundreds of ads in their system, suppliedby advertiser/clients along with desired filtering/targeting parameters,against information parameters supplied by the supply-side partner, andfilters out any ads that do not qualify. For example an ad may not beappropriate to submit if the advertiser does not want the ad to target aparticular media property (website), age group, gender, etc. For adsthat are not removed due to a mismatch with targeting parameters, thedemand-side platform then evaluates the corresponding bids thatrepresent how much each advertiser/client is willing to pay. The winningbid in the internal auction is then sent to the external auction at thesupply-side partner to compete for the impression opportunity.

Note that in some scenarios, the electronic advertisingagency/consolidator operating a demand-side platform and theadvertiser/client may in fact be the same entity—for instance when theycomprise a large organization with an internal advertising departmentcapable of acting as a demand-side platform. Also, in such an instancethere may be no internal auction—just a submission to an externalauction.

Judging Effectiveness of an Advertisement:

Advertiser/Clients in the past have typically judged the success of anadvertising campaign based on impressions, on-target impressions, andrelated GRPs (Gross Rating Points). It is also useful to determine howmuch each impression influences a conversion event, and the degree towhich that influence can be measured is referred to the “media Lift” forthe particular ad. Media Lift is computed as the percentage change inawareness or favorability towards a product due to the advertisement.Many 3rd party attribution partners/vendors track online events calledconversions or conversion events (purchases, registrations, clicks,etc.) and attempt to “attribute” these conversions to specific ads inorder to judge the influence of each ad. For example, the viewer of thead may have seen both display and video ads for the same item and theattribution company would apply a set of rules to assign partial“conversions” to each ad. So, a specific conversion may be 50%attributed to the video ad, 50% to the display ad. No one really knowsif these attribution rules are accurate. Also, such “media lift” studiesare always done at additional cost. A better and more accurate solutionis to perform such studies during the operation one or more campaigns,and in a manner that provides more accurate results, while adding noassociated cost.

Conversion events are a popular means for determining measured campaignresults. While “conversion” frequently refers to purchases or sales,conversion events can take many forms. Some non-limiting examples of aconversion event are: purchases/sales; clicks; watching a complete videoad; registering; reading reviews; adding an item to a wishlist; addingan item to a shopping cart; removing an item from a shopping cart; andengaging in a chat—to name only a few.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

The subject matter that is regarded as the invention is particularlypointed out and distinctly claimed in the claims at the conclusion ofthe specification. The foregoing and other objects, features, andadvantages of the invention will be apparent from the following detaileddescription taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings.

FIG. 1 shows an overview block diagram showing system components anddata flow according to the invention.

FIG. 2 shows a flow chart for an exemplary and non-limiting embodimentof the invention where a media lift study is conducted foradvertiser/client 1 where some ads from advertiser/client 2 act ascontrol ads for advertiser/client 1's campaign, the study conducted atno additional cost to the advertiser/clients.

FIG. 3 shows a flow chart for an exemplary and non-limiting embodimentof the invention depicting a generalized flow for campaign managementwith always-on media lift studies.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS

Systems and methods are disclosed for conducting media lift studies—alsoreferred to as brand lift studies—for online advertising concurrentlywith operating one or more concurrent advertising campaigns. Whileoperating an advertising campaign for a first advertiser/client focusedprimarily on a set of intended ads and a specific targeted vieweraudience, a non-intended or “control” ad is occasionally substituted torun in an ad slot, however this control ad is tracked for attributionpurposes as if it was an intended ad for the first advertiser/client'scampaign. The control ad can be one of:

a) an ad for a second advertiser/client;

b) an alternate ad for the first advertiser/client; or

c) a blank ad or an unrelated ad such as for example a Public Servicead.

After the campaign, attribution results for the intended ads areadjusted according to attribution results for the control ads to providean indication of media lift resulting from the intended ads—typically atno additional cost to the first advertiser/client, or to anyadvertiser/client. Analysis results may also be compared betweendifferent attribution partners (attribution data providers) to determinewhich provide the more accurate attribution data. Multiple attributiondata providers may optionally be used to track multiple simultaneouscampaigns for different advertiser/clients. In an alternate embodimentof the invention, multiple attribution data providers are used toconduct simultaneous media lift studies for multiple advertiser/clients,while not impacting advertising campaign costs for any of the multipleadvertiser/clients.

The invention uses RTB to bid on ad slot opportunities foradvertiser/client 1's ad, but occasionally silently selects a 2nd adthat is not even for the same advertiser/client, but is instead an adfrom advertiser/client 2. For a certain percentage of advertiser/client1's ads, a process according to the invention buys the ad spot, but atthe last minute places advertiser/client 2's ad instead.Advertiser/client 2 will be billed and their ad will run in reality, butthe invention causes advertiser 1's cookie to be dropped on the viewer.The 3rd party attribution partner will think the substitute (control) adwas advertiser/client 1's and partially attribute conversions to thecontrol ad, which wasn't even advertiser/client 1's intended ad and isin reality advertiser/client 2's ad. Thus, the campaign runs in an“always on” fashion, and adds no cost to either advertiser/client 1'scampaign or advertiser/client 2's campaign.

The actual mechanism utilized to perform the process described aboveuses a pixel that is fired to signal the attribution partner that the adis being viewed, and which ad it is—in this case that the ad isadvertiser/client 1's ad (regardless of whose ad it really is). Theattribution partner responds by placing/dropping their tracking cookieon the viewer's computer. Thus, the Demand Side Platform causes,indirectly, the tracking cookie to be dropped on the viewer. In theexample just described above, the attribution partner will track resultsfor both ads as if they both belonged to advertiser/client 1, eventhough some of the placements are actually advertiser/client 2's ad. Theattribution partner tracks the cookies through future viewerinteractions which may include one or more conversion events.

A variation on this process includes a Demand Side Platform performingtheir own cookie tracking and conversion event attribution. The processis similar to that described above except that there is no need to firea pixel since the Demand Side Platform is already aware of the adplacement. For this alternate scenario, the Demand Side Platform dropsthe cookie on the viewer's computer rather than an attribution partner.

In the reporting media lift results, assume for example that the 3rdparty attribution data indicates display ads for advertiser/client 1resulted in 30% of conversions, but the display control (the substitutedads that are really belong to advertiser/client 2) was attributed with5% of conversions. Then in reporting media lift results, a processaccording to the invention would adjust the numbers foradvertiser/client 1's display ad conversions to 25%. Media lift resultsare typically supplied to advertiser/clients in electronic form suitablefor viewing on a computer display.

Also, a blank ad or any unrelated ad such as for example a PublicService ad can be used as a control ad, yet cause a 3rd partyattribution cookie to drop so that the 3rd party attribution partnerwill partially attribute credit to this (blank) unrelated ad. Theattribution for unrelated control ads will be subtracted from the creditattributed to the intended ad to establish a baseline for attributioncredit. The substitution of an unrelated ad can optionally be done at nocost to the advertiser.

FIG. 1 shows an overview block diagram showing system components anddata flow according to the invention. A supply side platform 102conducts an ad slot auction for an ad slot 104 to appear on a displayprovided by media property 106 which may be any electronic display whereelectronic ads may be shown to a viewer, and in this diagram shown forexample on a viewer's computer 108. Non-limiting examples of suchelectronic displays include personal computers, tablet computers, andsmart phones, to name a few. Supply side platform 102 provides a bidrequest package 110 to a demand-side platform 114 where programmingaccording to the invention runs on one or more processors/servers 112 toexecute a complex process, and do so within the milliseconds allotted torespond to the bid request package. Bid request package 110 may includedata on the available ad slot and some form of viewer ID. Demand-sideplatform 114 returns a bid response 116 to supply side platform 102 thatincludes a bid for the ad slot and the ad to be placed. For oneembodiment of the invention, advertisements to be placed may include; anintended ad 118 from advertiser/client 1; an alternate (control) ad 120from advertiser/client 1; a control ad 122 from advertiser/client 2; ora blank/unrelated ad. For this embodiment, when an ad slot auction iswon, advertiser client 114 places one of ads 118, 120, 122, or ablank/unrelated ad, and will cause at least one tracking cookie to bedropped by a 1^(st) attribution partner 126. In an alternate embodiment,tracking cookies may also be dropped by a 2^(nd) attribution partner128.

FIG. 2 shows a flow chart for an exemplary and non-limiting embodimentof the invention where a media lift study is conducted foradvertiser/client 1 with some ads from advertiser/client 2 acting ascontrol ads for advertiser/client 1's campaign, and with the studyconducted at no additional cost to advertiser/client 1. In step S202, abid request package is received for an ad slot opportunity, and aprocess according to the invention automatically determines if the adslot is appropriate for advertisements from advertiser/client 1 andadvertiser/client 2. In step S204 a bid is placed for the ad slot and ifthe auction is won, the invention chooses either a control ad fromadvertiser/client 2 or an intended ad from advertiser client 1 to beplaced in the ad slot. In step S206, the chosen ad is placed, andregardless of whether the ad is from advertiser/client 1 or advertiserclient 2, a tracking cookie is dropped by a 1^(st) attribution partnerreferencing advertiser/client 1's ad. Also, whicheveradvertiser/client's ad the placement was for is recorded. In step S208,the progress of the campaign is compared with a completion target, andif the campaign is not finished it proceeds back to step S202. If perstep S208 the campaign has completed, then the process proceeds to stepS210 where information is retrieved from the 1^(st) attribution partner.Attribution data for the intended ad is then adjusted according toattribution data for the control ad, and the net media lift resultingfrom this adjustment is presented to advertiser client 1, therebyproviding a more accurate media lift analysis for advertiser/client 1'sintended ad. Finally per step S212, advertiser client 1 is billed forplacements of the intended ad, and advertiser/client 2 is billed forplacements of the control ad.

Note that the control ad can be a blank or unrelated ad, and when it isplaced a cookie is dropped by the 1^(st) attribution partner referencingadvertiser/client 1's intended ad. Advertiser/client 1 may be billed, ornot billed, for the blank/unrelated ad placement.

FIG. 3 shows a flow chart for exemplary and non-limiting embodiments ofthe invention depicting a generalized flow for campaign management withalways-on media lift studies. In step S302 a bid package is received foran ad slot opportunity, and a process according to the inventiondetermines if the ad slot is appropriate for advertisements fromadvertiser/client 1 and advertiser/client 2. If appropriate, per stepS304 an ad is placed for the ad slot opportunity, and if the auction iswon, the process chooses for placing in the ad slot an intended ad fromadvertiser/client 1 or one of the following:

a) a control ad from advertiser/client 2;

b) an alternate ad (control ad) from advertiser/client 1; or

c) a blank or unrelated (control) ad.

In step S306, the chosen ad is placed in the ad slot, and one or moretracking cookies is dropped for one or more attribution partnersreferencing the chosen ad according to the campaign strategy. If theplacement is for the intended ad from advertiser/client 1, then thetracking cookie is dropped by a 1^(st) attribution partner andreferences the intended ad. If the placement is for the control ad fromadvertiser/client 2, then one tracking cookie is dropped by a 1^(st)attribution partner referencing the intended ad (advertiser/client 1'sad)—and another tracking cookie is optionally dropped by a 2^(nd)attribution partner referencing the control ad (advertiser/client 2'sad), so that advertiser/client 2 will still receive attributioninformation even when their ad is used as a control ad inadvertiser/client 1's media lift study.

In step S308, the progress of the campaign is compared with a completiontarget, and if the campaign is not finished it proceeds back to stepS302. If per step S308 the campaign has completed, then the processproceeds to step S310 where information is retrieved from at least the1^(st) attribution partner. Attribution data for the intended ad is thenadjusted according to attribution data for the control ad, and the netmedia lift resulting from this adjustment is presented to advertiserclient 1, thereby providing a more accurate media lift analysis foradvertiser/client 1's intended ad. If a 2^(nd) tracking cookie wasdropped for a 2^(nd) attribution partner when the control ad is placed,then attribution information may also be reported to advertiser/client 2for placements of their ad (the control ad) as part of advertiser/client2's campaign. Subsequently, advertiser client 1 is billed for placementsof the intended ad, and advertiser/client 2 is billed for placements ofthe control ad and any other placements of advertiser/client 2's ad.Results of media lift studies for all embodiments described herein aretypically provided to advertiser/clients at least in electronic formsuitable for display on a computer display.

Note that for alternate embodiments of the invention, advertiser/client1 may in fact be the same entity as advertiser/client 2. As such, thecontrol ad from advertiser/client 2 would be in actuality an alternatead from advertiser/client 1.

In another alternate embodiment of the invention, it is possible to runsimultaneous media lift studies for both advertiser/client 1 andadvertiser/client 2 at no additional cost to either advertiser. For thisembodiment, a portion of advertiser/client 1's intended ads becomecontrol ads for advertiser/client 2's campaign, and likewise a portionof advertiser/client 2's intended ads become control ads foradvertiser/client 1's campaign, with both campaigns runningsimultaneously. So for this embodiment, when advertiser/client 2'sintended ad is placed as a control ad for advertiser/client 1'scampaign, two cookies would be dropped:

a) one cookie by the 1^(st) attribution partner referencing advertiser1's ad; and

b) one cookie by the 2^(nd) attribution partner referencing advertiser2's ad.

Likewise, when advertiser/client 1's intended ad is placed as a controlad for advertiser/client 2's campaign, two cookies would be dropped:

a) one cookie by the 1^(st) attribution partner referencing advertiser1's ad; and

b) one cookie by the 2^(nd) attribution partner referencing advertiser2's ad.

Subsequently when both campaigns have completed, attribution data isretrieved from both the 1^(st) and 2^(nd) attribution partners, andreconciled. Net media lift results for advertiser/client 1's campaign iscomputed by subtracting conversion results for the control ad (fromadvertiser/client 2) from conversion results for advertiser/client 1'sintended ad. Likewise, net media lift results for advertiser/client 2'scampaign is computed by subtracting conversion results for the controlad (from advertiser/client 1) from conversion results foradvertiser/client 2's intended ad.

Note that the quantity and complexity of the data and tasks involved inoperating the invention make implementation of the invention impossiblewithout the aid of one or more sequential machines—typically sequentialprocesses operating on the one or more processors referred to above—andalso use of a hardware communications infrastructure—typically theInternet. During the analysis and actionable processes involved,millions of data elements must be considered and without using a machineas part of the invention, implementation of the claimed processes wouldnot be possible. Typically a Demand Side Platform (DSP) MUST bothanalyze and respond to an ad slot opportunity in less than 250milliseconds. This response time limit is generally understoodthroughout the online advertising community, and while the time limitmay vary from one supply-side platform to another, is always less than250 mS. To date, applicant has seen bid response time limits typicallybetween 70 and 100 mS with some ranging up to 150 mS. Note that thisrapid succession of events comprising applicant's processes as claimedis necessary such that when a viewer goes to a webpage, the locationsfor advertisements on that page will not be initially shown as blankboxes.

Performing the claimed processes to provide this response time with“pencil and paper” is impossible for many reasons, as is performing theclaimed processes without the Internet. In fact, the entire process withrespect to online advertisements requires an intimate usage of theInternet for the Demand Side Platform to communicate via thecommunications network (Internet) with: supply-side platforms;advertising exchanges; advertising networks; and attribution partners.The DSP must receive bid request packages, determine if and how much tobid, and supply the ads themselves in less than 250 milliseconds via theInternet. If the DSP fails to perform these processes within the timelimit specified by the supply-side platform, the submitted bid will beignored. Then, after a campaign has run, the DSP automatically receivesattribution data from attribution partners, and uses the attributiondata to automatically determine media lift. The preceding descriptionnames only some of the automated processes and actions involved inimplementing the invention as claimed.

The claims reflect a computerized process since, at this time, computingresources have evolved to include “Cloud-based” computing as describedabove in the Background section. As such, it is also impossible topredict where (physically) the claimed processes will be executed and/orif they will be distributed across multiple machines. It is alsoimpossible to predict the specific ownership of machines whereupon theclaimed processes will be executed, and therefore against whom theclaims would protect against should the claims instead have been writtenas system claims as opposed to the method claims attached hereto.

The foregoing detailed description has set forth a few of the many formsthat the invention can take. It is intended that the foregoing detaileddescription be understood as an illustration of selected forms that theinvention can take and not as a limitation to the definition of theinvention. It is only the claims, including all equivalents that areintended to define the scope of this invention.

At least certain principles of the invention can be implemented ashardware, firmware, software or any combination thereof. Moreover, thesoftware is preferably implemented as an application program tangiblyembodied on a program storage unit, a non-transitory machine readablemedium, or a non-transitory machine-readable storage medium that can bein a form of a digital circuit, an analog circuit, a magnetic medium, orcombination thereof. The application program may be uploaded to, andexecuted by one or more machines comprising any suitable architecture.The various processes and functions described herein may be either partof microinstruction code or part of one or more application programs, orany combination thereof, which may be executed by one or more CPUs,whether or not such machine(s) or processor(s) are explicitly shown. Inaddition, various other peripheral units may be connected to machineplatforms such as one or more data storage units and printing units.

What is claimed is:
 1. A computerized method wherein one or moreprocessors analyze media lift concurrently with operating an onlineadvertising campaign comprising: receiving an intended ad and relatedtargeting parameters from a first advertiser/client; receiving a controlad and related targeting parameters from a second advertiser/client;receiving, via a communications network, bid request packages for adslot opportunities from one or more supply side platforms operating onremote servers; automatically determining which of the ad slotopportunities are appropriate for advertisements from the firstadvertiser/client and the second advertiser/client based at least inpart on automatically analyzing characteristics of the ad slotopportunities in light of the received targeting parameters for both theintended ad and the control ad; automatically responding to the bidrequest packages by submitting bids for a plurality of first ad slotopportunities wherein each submitted bid is sent via the communicationsnetwork to the supply side platform operating on the remote serverwithin 250 milliseconds of receiving the bid request package, andwherein when any such submitted bid wins, placing for each first ad slotopportunity the intended ad, and causing a first tracking cookie for afirst attribution partner to be placed where the tracking cookiereferences the intended ad, and recording each such placement;automatically bidding for a plurality of second ad slot opportunitieswherein each submitted bid is sent via the communications network to thesupply side platform operating on the remote server within 250milliseconds of receiving the bid request package, and wherein when anysuch submitted bid wins, placing the control ad, and causing a secondtracking cookie for the first attribution partner to be placedreferencing the intended ad, and recording each such placement;receiving attribution data from the first attribution partnerreferencing campaign results based on the tracking cookies;automatically analyzing the attribution data to produce media liftresults for the intended ad responsive to the tracking of the cookies;and providing a report with the media lift results to the firstadvertiser/client for display on a computer display.
 2. The computerizedmethod of claim 1 wherein the media lift results are computed bysubtracting a measured campaign result for the control ad from ameasured campaign result for the intended ad.
 3. The computerized methodof claim 1 wherein the first and second advertiser/clients comprise thesame advertiser/client, and the control ad comprises an alternate adrelated to a different product or service than the intended ad.
 4. Thecomputerized method of claim 1 wherein the control ad is a blank ad oran unrelated ad.
 5. The computerized method of claim 1 wherein the firstattribution partner is either a demand-side platform representing thefirst advertiser/client, or the advertiser/client itself.
 6. Thecomputerized method of claim 1, further comprising: automaticallybidding, via the communications network, for a plurality of third adslot opportunities and where won, placing for each third ad slotopportunity the intended ad and causing a third tracking cookie for asecond attribution partner to be placed where the third tracking cookiereferences the intended ad, and recording each such placement;automatically bidding, via the communications network, for a pluralityof fourth ad slot opportunities and where won, placing the control adand causing a fourth tracking cookie for the second attribution partnerto be placed referencing the intended ad, and recording each suchplacement; receiving data from the second attribution partnerreferencing campaign results based on the third and fourth trackingcookies referencing the intended ad and the control ad; automaticallyanalyzing the attribution data from the second attribution partner toproduce media lift results for the intended ad responsive to thetracking of the cookies; providing a report with the net lift resultsbased on the attribution data received from the second attributionpartner to the first advertiser/client for display on a computerdisplay; automatically comparing the media lift results based onanalyzing data from the first attribution partner with media liftresults based on analyzing data from the second attribution partner todetermine which of the first and second attribution partners hasprovided the more accurate media lift results; and providing a reportwith the media lift result comparison to the first advertiser/client fordisplay on a computer display.
 7. A computerized method wherein one ormore processors analyze media lift concurrently with operating an onlineadvertising campaign, comprising: receiving an intended ad and relatedtargeting parameters from a first advertiser/client to be used in thefirst advertiser/client's campaign; receiving a control ad and relatedtargeting parameters from a second advertiser/client to be used in thefirst advertiser/client's campaign; receiving, via a communicationsnetwork, bid request packages for ad slot opportunities from one or moresupply side platforms operating on remote servers; automaticallydetermining which of the ad slot opportunities are appropriate foradvertisements from the first advertiser/client and the secondadvertiser/client based at least in part on automatically analyzingcharacteristics of the ad slot opportunities in light of the receivedtargeting parameters for both the intended ad and the control ad;automatically responding to the bid request packages by submitting bidsfor a plurality of first ad slot opportunities wherein each submittedbid is sent via the communications network to the supply side platformoperating on the remote server within 250 milliseconds of receiving thebid request package, and wherein when any such submitted bid wins,placing for each first ad slot opportunity the intended ad and causing afirst tracking cookie for a first attribution partner to be placed wherethe tracking cookie references the intended ad, and recording each suchplacement; automatically responding to the bid request packages bysubmitting bids for a plurality of second ad slot opportunities whereineach submitted bid is sent via the communications network to the supplyside platform operating on the remote server within 250 milliseconds ofreceiving the bid request package, and wherein when any such submittedbid wins, placing the control ad and causing to be placed: a) a secondtracking cookie for the first attribution partner referencing theintended ad; and b) a third tracking cookie for a second attributionpartner referencing the control ad; and recording each of suchplacements; and receiving attribution data from the first attributionpartner referencing campaign results based on the first and secondtracking cookies; automatically analyzing the attribution data toproduce net lift results for the intended ad; automatically providing areport with the media lift results for the intended ad to the firstadvertiser/client for display on a computer display; and automaticallyproviding a report with campaign results to the second advertiser/clientfor display on a computer display based on attribution results forplacements of the control ad.
 8. The computerized method of claim 7wherein the media lift results for the intended ad are computed bysubtracting a measured campaign result for the control ad from ameasured campaign result for the intended ad.
 9. The computerized methodof claim 7 wherein the first and second advertiser/clients comprise thesame advertiser/client, and the control ad comprises an alternate adrelated to a different product or service than the intended ad.
 10. Thecomputerized method of claim 7 wherein the control ad is a blank orunrelated ad.
 11. The computerized method of claim 7 wherein the firstattribution partner is either a demand-side platform representing thefirst advertiser/client, or the advertiser/client itself.
 12. Thecomputerized method of claim 7 wherein for a portion of the first andsecond ad slot opportunities that are won, using placements of theintended ad from the first advertiser/client's campaign as control adsfor the second advertiser/client's campaign, such that: a) placements ofthe control ad from the first advertiser/client's campaign also act asintended ads for the second advertiser/client's campaign; and b) aportion of the placements of the intended ad from the firstadvertiser/client's campaign also act as control ads for the secondadvertiser/client's campaign; thus simultaneously providing media liftstudies for both the first advertiser/client and the secondadvertiser/client.